Jeremiah 23

¹ “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. ² Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the LORD. ³ “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. ⁴ I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD.

⁵ “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
⁶ In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Saviour.

⁷ “So then, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ ⁸ but they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”

⁹ Concerning the prophets:

My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble.
I am like a drunken man, like a strong man overcome by wine,
because of the LORD and his holy words.
¹⁰ The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched
and the pastures in the wilderness are withered.
The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly.

¹¹ “Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness,” declares the LORD.
¹² “Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness
and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished,” declares the LORD.

 ¹³ “Among the prophets of Samaria
I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.
¹⁴ And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible:
They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that not one of them turns from their wickedness.
They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”

¹⁵ Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says concerning the prophets:

“I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water,
because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”

¹⁶ This is what the LORD Almighty says: 

“Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes.
They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.
¹⁷ They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The LORD says: You will have peace.’
And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’
¹⁸ But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word?
Who has listened and heard his word?
¹⁹ See, the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked.
²⁰ The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart.
In days to come you will understand it clearly. ²¹ I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message;
I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.
²² But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people
and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.

²³ “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away?
²⁴ Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the LORD.
“Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD.

²⁵ “I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ ²⁶ How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? ²⁷ They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship. ²⁸ Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the LORD. ²⁹ “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

³⁰ “Therefore,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. ³¹ Yes,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The LORD declares.’ ³² Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the LORD. “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares the LORD.

 ³³ “When these people, or a prophet or a priest, ask you, ‘What is the message from the LORD?’ say to them, ‘What message? I will forsake you, declares the LORD.’ ³⁴ If a prophet or a priest or anyone else claims, ‘This is a message from the LORD,’ I will punish them and their household. ³⁵ This is what each of you keeps saying to your friends and other Israelites: ‘What is the LORD’s answer?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ ³⁶ But you must not mention ‘a message from the LORD’ again, because each one’s word becomes their own message. So you distort the words of the living God, the LORD Almighty, our God. ³⁷ This is what you keep saying to a prophet: ‘What is the LORD’s answer to you?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ ³⁸ Although you claim, ‘This is a message from the LORD,’ this is what the LORD says: You used the words, ‘This is a message from the LORD,’ even though I told you that you must not claim, ‘This is a message from the LORD.’ ³⁹ Therefore, I will surely forget you and cast you out of my presence along with the city I gave to you and your ancestors. ⁴⁰ I will bring on you everlasting disgrace -everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.”

TODAY IN THE WORDThe destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, were events that helped to reshape Europe and change history. The fall of the Berlin Wall was a defining moment for Germany, ending a painful kind of oppression for the people who were forced to live under communist rule in East Germany since the wall was built in 1961.

Israel’s defining national event was the exodus from Egypt under Moses. The power and majesty God displayed in delivering His people from centuries of slavery became the standard against which the nation’s future was measured. When the Israelites faced a formidable opponent or a vulnerable situation, they reminded themselves of the miraculous way God had brought them out of Egypt into their own land.

When Messiah returns, however, the people of Israel will have a new historic event to talk about. The prophet Jeremiah described a new return to the land by exiled Jews that will make the first exodus seem small. God will accomplish this return in preparation for Messiah’s thousand-year reign on the throne of David.

Jeremiah’s message of future restoration had special meaning to his readers in the southern kingdom of Judah, who had been taken from the Holy Land into exile in Babylon. One reason for Judah’s fall was the treachery of its evil shepherds, the leaders whose unfaithfulness to God had invited His judgment.

The prophet told the people that a day was coming when God would bring them back to their land and give them leaders who honored Him. This portion of the prophecy was fulfilled in the nation’s later return from captivity, but Jeremiah’s message wasn’t finished. He looked ahead to the coming of a King who so perfectly fulfills God’s ideal that His name is “The LORD Our Righteousness.”

This King is the “righteous Branch” from David’s line, the Messiah. No one else could meet these qualifications. At His second coming, Jesus will be crowned as the one who ultimately and forever fulfills every one of these Messianic titles. Scripture undeniably states that this will be a time of unsurpassed deliverance, restoration, and peace.

APPLY THE WORD
Israel’s history illustrates the impact leaders can have on a country, either for righteousness or for ruin.

We need that reminder in this crucial election year. Although the final election is still almost eight months away, it’s not too early to begin praying that God will exercise His will and power in the choices we make. Pray especially today for the selection of leaders who have a heart for righteousness.

Jeremiah 22

¹ This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there: ² ‘Hear the word of the LORD to you, king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne - you, your officials and your people who come through these gates. ³ This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. ⁴ For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people. ⁵ But if you do not obey these commands, declares the LORD, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin.’”

⁶ For this is what the LORD says about the palace of the king of Judah:

“Though you are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon,
I will surely make you like a wasteland, like towns not inhabited.
⁷ I will send destroyers against you, each man with his weapons,
and they will cut up your fine cedar beams and throw them into the fire.

⁸ “People from many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’ ⁹ And the answer will be: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshipped and served other gods.’”

¹⁰ Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss; rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled,
because he will never return nor see his native land again.

¹¹ For this is what the LORD says about Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but has gone from this place: “He will never return. ¹² He will die in the place where they have led him captive; he will not see this land again.”

¹³ “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice,
making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labour.
¹⁴ He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.’
So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red.

¹⁵ “Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?
Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him.
¹⁶ He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well.
Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the LORD.
¹⁷ “But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain,
on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.”

¹⁸ Therefore this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

“They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’
They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendour!’
¹⁹ He will have the burial of a donkey - dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.”

²⁰ “Go up to Lebanon and cry out, let your voice be heard in Bashan,
cry out from Abarim, for all your allies are crushed.
²¹ I warned you when you felt secure, but you said, ‘I will not listen!’
This has been your way from your youth; you have not obeyed me.
²² The wind will drive all your shepherds away, and your allies will go into exile.
Then you will be ashamed and disgraced because of all your wickedness.
²³ You who live in ‘Lebanon, who are nestled in cedar buildings,
how you will groan when pangs come upon you, pain like that of a woman in labour!

²⁴ “As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off. ²⁵ I will deliver you into the hands of those who want to kill you, those you fear -Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Babylonians. ²⁶ I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another country, where neither of you was born, and there you both will die. ²⁷ You will never come back to the land you long to return to.”

²⁸ Is this man Jehoiachin a despised, broken pot, an object no one wants?
Why will he and his children be hurled out, cast into a land they do not know?
²⁹ O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD!
³⁰ This is what the LORD says:
“Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime,
for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah.”

Matthew Henry

The Jewish state is described under a threefold character. Very haughty in a day of peace and safety. Very fearful on alarm of trouble. Very much cast down under pressure of trouble. Many never are ashamed of their sins till brought by them to the last extremity. The king shall close his days in bondage. Those that think themselves as signets on God's right hand, must not be secure, but fear lest they should be plucked thence. The Jewish king and his family shall be carried to Babylon. We know where we were born, but where we shall die we know not; it is enough that our God knows. Let it be our care that we die in Christ, then it will be well with us wherever we die, thought it may be in a far country. The Jewish king shall be despised. Time was when he was delighted in; but all those in whom God has no pleasure, some time or other, will be so lowered, that men will have no pleasure in them. Whoever are childless, it is the Lord that writes them so; and those who take no care to do good in their days, cannot expect to prosper. How little is earthly grandeur to be depended upon, or flourishing families to be rejoiced in! But those who hear the voice of Christ, and follow him, have eternal life, and shall never perish, neither shall any enemy pluck them out of his almighty hands.

Jeremiah 21

¹ The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. They said: ² “Inquire now of the LORD for us because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is attacking us. Perhaps the LORD will perform wonders for us as in times past so that he will withdraw from us.”

 ³ But Jeremiah answered them, “Tell Zedekiah, ⁴ ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am about to turn against you the weapons of war that are in your hands, which you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are outside the wall besieging you. And I will gather them inside this city. ⁵ I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm in furious anger and in great wrath. ⁶ I will strike down those who live in this city - both man and beast - and they will die of a terrible plague. ⁷ After that, declares the LORD, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the people in this city who survive the plague, sword and famine, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will put them to the sword; he will show them no mercy or pity or compassion.’

 ⁸ “Furthermore, tell the people, ‘This is what the LORD says: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹ Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live; they will escape with their lives. ¹⁰ I have determined to do this city harm and not good, declares the LORD. It will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will destroy it with fire.’

¹¹ “Moreover, say to the royal house of Judah, ‘Hear the word of the LORD. ¹² This is what the LORD says to you, house of David:

“‘Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of the oppressor

the one who has been robbed, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire

because of the evil you have done - burn with no one to quench it.

¹³ I am against you, Jerusalem, you who live above this valley

on the rocky plateau, declares the LORD - you who say, “Who can come against us? Who can enter our refuge?”

¹⁴ I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the LORD.

I will kindle a fire in your forests that will consume everything around you.’”

TODAY IN THE WORD (inc Ch 22)
After Caesar Augustus, also called Octavian, finally defeated Mark Antony at Actium, one of his priorities was to track down a particular Egyptian teenager. The boy’s mother went to great lengths to protect her son, but more than maternal instincts were involved – she was Queen Cleopatra and the boy was the only male heir of Julius Caesar. As long as young Caesarion lived, Octavian’s rule was threatened. Despite his status as heir, Caesarion was killed.
Today’s passage reviews both legitimate and illegitimate rulers on Judah’s throne, but ultimately it points to God’s preservation of the royal line for its true Heir. But first, the royal line had to be purged of sin and brought back to its function of administering justice (21:12).
The prophecy in Jeremiah 22 concerned Zedekiah, the last king of Judah before the Exile. This prophecy shows that the kingdom fell into destruction because it had forsaken justice, in addition to worshiping idols. Because Zedekiah and most of the kings before him persisted in sin, the kingdom became a desert (v 6) and an object of scorn for other nations (v 8).
The next prophecy concerned Shallum, also called Jehoahaz (vv 10–12). He was Josiah’s son and ascended to the throne in 609 B.C. He only reigned for three months before Pharaoh Neco banished him to Egypt, where he died.
Finally, the Lord denounced King Jehoiakim, Shallum’s brother, who turned out to be a wicked king. Despite being forced to pay a heavy tribute to Neco, Jehoiakim further taxed the people to pay for a huge palace. Unlike his father Josiah, Jehoiakim allowed pagan cults to return and added new ones from Egypt. He foolishly thought being king meant surpassing previous kings in their extravagance and spending.
APPLY THE WORD
We can learn several things from today’s history lesson. First, the Lord is completely faithful to His Word. He promised David a throne forever, and He fulfilled this through Jesus Christ. Second, God fulfills His promises in accordance with His perfect character. Evil kings could not remain on a throne that represented a holy God. On the one hand, this encourages us that God is faithful, even after much time passes. On the other hand, this challenges us that He will remove sin and evil before He brings about His promises.

Jeremiah 20

¹ When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, the official in charge of the temple of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, ² he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the LORD’s temple. ³ The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD’s name for you is not Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. ⁴ For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; with your own eyes you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies. I will give all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon, who will carry them away to Babylon or put them to the sword. ⁵ I will deliver all the wealth of this city into the hands of their enemies - all its products, all its valuables and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away as plunder and carry it off to Babylon. ⁶ And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into exile to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.’”

⁷ You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed.
I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me.
⁸ Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction.
So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long.
⁹ But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.
¹⁰ I hear many whispering, “Terror on every side! Denounce him! Let’s denounce him!”
All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying,
“Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him.”

¹¹ But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonour will never be forgotten.
¹² LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind,
let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have committed my cause.

¹³ Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD!
He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.

¹⁴ Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!
¹⁵ Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, “A child is born to you - a son!”

¹⁶ May that man be like the towns the LORD overthrew without pity.
May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon.
¹⁷ For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever.
¹⁸ Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?

TODAY IN THE WORDJesus’ prayer on the cross ... is perhaps the most poignant outcry in all Scripture. From the depths of His soul, Jesus cried out in anguish, faithful to the Father in His suffering. What a picture of sacrificial love! What an honest glimpse of Jesus’ true humanity!

Such honesty characterises the Lord’s servants, particularly those called to suffer deeply for God’s sake. Jeremiah never wavered in obeying God’s call, but he also learned how to lay bare his soul before the Lord in the process.

The outcries recorded in Jeremiah 20 (and 23) are sometimes called Jeremiah’s “confessions.” These powerful prayers are like lament psalms, where the psalmist begins by “complaining” to God and ends up praising His mercy and love. We may be shocked by Jeremiah’s honesty, but these cries reflect trust and intimacy before the Lord.

Not everyone appreciated Jeremiah’s courage! His honesty about Jerusalem’s sin landed him in big trouble. Pashur was not a real prophet, though that didn’t stop him from “prophesying lies” (v 6) – most likely that nothing bad could happen to Judah. He was probably a temple “law enforcement officer” who reported to the High Priest. But however important he may have felt, he was really a “terror” who had not fooled God.

Despite ridicule and torture, Jeremiah remained faithful to his calling. Part of Jeremiah’s “complaint” may have concerned the long delay between his prophecies and God’s actions. To many people, Jeremiah was an annoying “squeak.” But Jeremiah knew that he couldn’t hold back God’s word, which was like fire within him (v 9). And as he complained, numerous reminders of the Lord’s goodness began to interrupt (vv 12, 13), even in the midst of despair (v 14).

---

APPLY THE WORD
Jeremiah was called to a painful life and ministry, suffering for others’ injustice. At times, he despaired of life. At some point, nearly every Christian feels forsaken by God. Rather than denying this, we can follow Jeremiah’s example of honesty before God. This could mean writing your own “confession” using lament psalms, such as Psalm 3, 5, 6, or 7, as a model. Begin by honestly describing your pain, then write a plea for deliverance, and finish with an assurance of God’s unfailing nature, maybe even based on a past experience.

Jeremiah 19

¹ This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests ² and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, ³ and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. ⁴ For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned incense in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. ⁵ They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal - something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind. ⁶ So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

⁷ “‘In this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds and the wild animals. ⁸ I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff because of all its wounds. ⁹ I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’

¹⁰ “Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching, ¹¹ and say to them, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. ¹² This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the LORD. I will make this city like Topheth. ¹³ The houses in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth - all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs to all the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods.’”

¹⁴ Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the LORD’s temple and said to all the people, ¹⁵ “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.’”

Matthew Henry

The potter's vessel, after it is hardened, can never be pieced again when it is broken. And as the bottle was broken, so shall Judah and Jerusalem be broken by the Chaldeans. No human hand can repair it; but if they return to the Lord he will heal. As they filled Tophet with the slain sacrificed to their idols, so will God fill the whole city with the slain that shall fall as sacrifices to his justice. Whatever men may think, God will appear as terrible against sin and sinners as the Scriptures state; nor shall the unbelief of men make his promise or his threatenings of no effect. The obstinacy of sinners in sinful ways, is their own fault; if they are deaf to the word of God, it is because they have stopped their ears. We have need to pray that God, by his grace, would deliver us from hardness of heart, and contempt of his word and commandments.

Jeremiah 18

¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ² “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

⁵ Then the word of the LORD came to me. ⁶ He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. ⁷ If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, ⁸ and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. ⁹ And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, ¹⁰ and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

¹¹ “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ ¹² But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.’”

¹³ Therefore this is what the LORD says:

“Inquire among the nations: Who has ever heard anything like this?
A most horrible thing has been done by Virgin Israel.
¹⁴ Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes?
Do its cool waters from distant sources ever stop flowing?
¹⁵ Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols,
which made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths.
They made them walk in byways, on roads not built up.
¹⁶ Their land will be an object of horror and of lasting scorn;
all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads.
¹⁷ Like a wind from the east, I will scatter them before their enemies;
I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their disaster.”

¹⁸ They said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.”

¹⁹ Listen to me, LORD; hear what my accusers are saying!
²⁰ Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me.
Remember that I stood before you and spoke in their behalf to turn your wrath away from them.
²¹ So give their children over to famine; hand them over to the power of the sword.
Let their wives be made childless and widows; let their men be put to death, their young men slain by the sword in battle.
²² Let a cry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring invaders against them,
for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.
²³ But you, LORD, know all their plots to kill me.
Do not forgive their crimes or blot out their sins from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.

TODAY IN THE WORDIn 1464, a massive block of marble over 16 feet long was quarried in Italy. For nearly forty years this prize find was left untouched, even though it had been offered to several master sculptors. It was considered too daunting. Finally, in 1501, a young man came along who believed that sculptures were already present in stones and simply needed to be discovered by the artist. Three years later, from this immense slab emerged Michelangelo’s incomparable sculpture, David.
A master knows exactly how to work with materials to produce the desired product. This was what Jeremiah discovered when the Lord sent him to a potter’s house. During the process of moulding clay into pottery some potential pots are ruined on the potter’s wheel. Recognising this, the potter starts over and reshapes the clay into a suitable pot.
In a similar way, the Lord will reshape His people if the original “lump of clay” has become ruined. In other words, because the nation had failed to live according to its intended purpose - to reflect God’s glory to other nations - the Lord had the right to reshape it through judgment and exile. Because of sin, Judah and Jerusalem forfeited the good plans that God had for them, requiring them to be “remoulded.”
Unlike a potter, however, the Lord offers the clay a chance to respond! Judgement comes when people refuse to repent. If, however, there’s repentance, the Lord is willing to relent (v 8). Some people think this means that God changes His mind or that He can be manipulated. But notice that there are only two options: either the people repent and avoid judgement, or they persist in their sin and receive judgement. God is not changing His mind, He is simply allowing human choice. What doesn’t change is God’s justice!

---

APPLY THE WORD
Are you a willing lump of clay? Or do you resist the remoulding process? God is continually moulding and shaping us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. If we have sinned, He can use the consequences of that sin to break us and form us. Even apart from sin, God often uses difficulties to sculpt us according to His intended purposes. A real lump of clay has no choice, but in the dignity that God has given to humans, we do have a choice to either cooperate or resist His Master’s touch.

Jeremiah 17

¹ “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point,
on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.
² Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles
beside the spreading trees and on the high hills.
³ My mountain in the land and your wealth and all your treasures
I will give away as plunder, together with your high places,
because of sin throughout your country.
⁴ Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance I gave you.
I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know,
for you have kindled my anger, and it will burn forever.”
⁵ This is what the LORD says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
⁶ That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.

⁷ “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
⁸ They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
¹⁰ “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”
¹¹ Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay are those who gain riches by unjust means.
When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end they will prove to be fools.
¹² A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.
¹³ LORD, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD,
the spring of living water.
¹⁴ Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.
¹⁵ They keep saying to me,
“Where is the word of the LORD? Let it now be fulfilled!”
¹⁶ I have not run away from being your shepherd; you know I have not desired the day of despair.
What passes my lips is open before you.
¹⁷ Do not be a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster.
¹⁸ Let my persecutors be put to shame, but keep me from shame; let them be terrified, but keep me from terror.
Bring on them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction. 
¹⁹ This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem. ²⁰ Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates. ²¹ This is what the LORD says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. ²² Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors. ²³ Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline. ²⁴ But if you are careful to obey me, declares the LORD, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it, ²⁵ then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever. ²⁶ People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the LORD. ²⁷ But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.’”

TODAY IN THE WORD

The story is told of thirteen firefighters dropped from a plane to fight a Montana forest fire. Once they were on the ground, the fire jumped a ravine and surrounded them. With only moments to act, the captain ordered his men to light the grass around them, hoping to burn a space of safety before the fire arrived. But they cursed him and ran to higher ground, trusting in themselves and in their strength, rather than in the direction of their captain. They all died in the fire; only he survived.

Whom do you trust? This question occurs repeatedly in Scripture. In our passage today, God Himself asks the question and outlines the consequences of two very different answers.

In this passage, trust is defined in terms of where one chooses to live. The man who trusts in flesh, not the Spirit, and in human strength, not God’s, is imagined as a bush in a wasteland. He is isolated (v 6), cut off from other people, from water, and from God. Indeed, the three go together. The reason that “he will not see prosperity when it comes” is that he has settled away from its sources (v 6). How can you share in an abundant rainfall when you’ve chosen to live where no rain comes? How can you bear fruit without water? To trust in man is to live in a desert of no possibility.

The one who trusts in God, on the other hand, lives in a place of continual renewal. Like a tree rooted in a stream, this person lives at the source of prosperity. Drought isn’t scary because there is a constant water source; this person’s “leaves” remain green. Not only that, but this individual “never fails to bear fruit.” What a wonderful promise! Abiding in Christ will lead to a fruitful life; it is an inevitable outgrowing of life in the Spirit.

---

APPLY THE WORDTrees don’t try to bear fruit, they just do by virtue of being near good water and sunlight. In today’s Scripture God makes the wonderful promise that those whose confidence is in Him will remain green and will bear fruit.